Education Blog

Tag Archives: resignation

Post navigation

Dallas ISD trustees will begin the process of looking for a new leader as early as this week after Superintendent Mike Miles unexpectedly resigned.

Trustees plan to decide at a called meeting Friday what search firm to use to find a new superintendent.

Board President Eric Cowan said the district could choose from a list of six or seven firms who are approved vendors instead of issuing a request for proposal for a traditional search firm. He isn’t sure what method the board will use.

Miles resigned Tuesday, ending a rocky three-year tenure in DISD. He cited the need to be with his family in Colorado and also said the timing is right as a good foundation has been laid for his reform efforts.

Some community members said they want this superintendent search to be more open than the last one that resulted in Miles’ hiring. In that search, trustees would not say who was being considered for the job until announcing Miles as the lone finalist.

Some trustees believed that some candidates would withdraw their applications if word got out. But some community members said that good candidates would have no fear of word getting out as their bosses would fight to keep them, and likely with incentives.

Rena Honea, president of the Alliance-AFT teachers association, said the board should be more inclusive with the new search.

“The most important thing now, as the Board of Trustees moves forward with the search for a new superintendent, is that the full Dallas community play an active role in the selection process,” Honea said in a news release.

“So as we conduct the search to pick a new leader for our schools, let’s make sure that we listen to the voices of teachers from the classrooms where our students learn, and the voices of parents from the homes where these children live and grow,” Honea said.

Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings helped Miles land the superintendent job in Dallas. County Commissioner John Wiley Price cautioned Tuesday against local officials or the mayor deciding who should be hired. Price said it’s the job of the school board to hire a qualified leader.

“It’s about that [school] board being in charge and in control, getting the right person,” Price said. “I don’t need the mayor and city council persons to decide who’s the superintendent. I don’t want to decide who the superintendent is going to be. I need that board to decide who the superintendent is. Get some metrics and hold them accountable. Do you realize how long, how many tests reiterations we’ve gone through, how many young people have we lost? Look at the teacher turnover. It’s been a real travesty and I don’t think we realize.”

The called board meeting, which also will include accepting Miles’ resignation and naming an interim superintendent, will begin at 5:30 p.m. Friday at district headquarters, 3700 Ross Ave. in Dallas.

Outgoing Dallas ISD Superintendent Mike Miles said Tuesday that he doesn’t have another job to go to but something will come up. He said he’d also look into consulting work.

Miles announced his resignation Tuesday morning to the surprise of some of his bosses on the school board.

“I don’t have anything lined up,” Miles said Tuesday after the announcement. “I’m going back to Colorado, and then we’ll see. Something will come up. I was consulting before I came here, and I’ll try to start that up again too. I’m open to lots of things.”

Miles had said Tuesday morning that a settlement agreement was being worked on for his exit. But when told afterward that it’s unusual for a superintendent to resign before a settlement is reached and that it’s a risky move, he said his decision is not about getting a settlement.

“The decision is not about anything like that,” he said. “The decision is about whether the district is in a good place. It’s about whether or not we have the right people to carry the mission forward, whether or not we have the right community support for reforms. And on a personal level, it’s about my own family situation. That’s what the decision is about.”

Miles said the he decided to resign after looking at various factors, including a need to be with his family in Colorado. He noted that his youngest son is starting high school this year.

Miles said that he believes he’s leaving the district in good hands. He said that he put a good team in place.

Miles’ advice to the new superintendent: “You have to continue to be prepared to make the tough decisions few others would be prepared to make. If you’re not willing to do that then you shouldn’t even apply for this job.”

Miles wanted three changes to his contract, including that he would have immediate access to the $50,000 per year that the board has set aside and wouldn’t allow him to get until 2017. He also wanted his contact to note that the school board would be required to follow its Board Operating Procedures and that trustees would not look for a new superintendent while he was still there, Cowan said.

Miles wanted to discuss the possible changes with the nine trustees at Thursday’s school board meeting — the last before August, but Cowan told him it was not the right time. The conversation immediately shifted to Miles leaving, Cowan said.

“We talked about a transition,” Cowan said.

Miles announced his resignation Tuesday morning at a news conference and said he will return to his family in Colorado after the last school board meeting of the school year on Thursday. Miles refused to elaborate why he has decided to leave even though he has two years remaining on his contract.

“I have been here for three years, two of them without my family. It’s time to return to Colorado,” Miles said.

Miles noted several achievements he said that DISD had accomplished during his tenure and said that his reform efforts would continue without him. His announcement ends three tumultuous years in which Miles was never able to make an education management style developed at a district less than a tenth the size of Dallas work in the larger setting.

Miles said that deputy superintendent Ann Smisko will take over as acting superintendent on Friday. Nine top administrators stood behind Miles, bowing their heads and looking somber at times, but he was all smiles during the news conference.

About Mike Miles

Age: 58

Hired in DISD: April 2012

Hometown: Colorado Springs, Colo.

Previous position: Superintendent of Harrison School District 2 in Colorado Springs

Trustee Joyce Foreman, the only board member who attended the news conference, said the board should make the decision on who leads DISD after Miles.

“The board will have to have an emergency meeting. The board should driving this ship instead of a superintendent who has resigned,” she said after the news conference.

Trustee Dan Micciche said in a statement that he supports Smisko as interim superintendent. “I wish Mike all the best, and I have every confidence in Dr. Smisko to lead the District during this transition period,” he wrote in an email.

Board president Eric Cowan hasn’t returned several requests for comment.

Make no mistake, @MMilesDISD laid a solid foundation for our kids, a foundation that far too few were willing to take on in the past.

Trustee Miguel Solis said after the news conference that he knew Miles wanted to amend his contract. He said that Miles approached Solis about possible changes in May but Solis told him to wait until the next school board president was chosen.

Solis said Miles wanted several changes, including adding language in his contract that requires the school board to adhere to its Board Operating Procedures and that the board would not look for a new superintendent while he was still there.

Rena Honea, the president of Dallas teachers group Alliance-AFT, said that DISD has been damaged under Miles. “There has been a cloud over this district since he has begun,” she said at DISD headquarters after the news conference.

Before the news conference, sources described the mood as “tense” at 3700 Ross Ave., with several top administrators, including deputy superintendent Ann Smisko, going in and out of the room where the news conference will take place.

Miles, who joined Dallas ISD in July 2012, was about to begin his fourth school year in DISD. His resignation comes a few days before school board members were expected to approve the 2015-16 budget, which includes money for many of Miles’ reform efforts.

Miles’ entire tenure has been marked by controversy and ambitious initiatives. He designed and implemented new evaluations for teachers and principals, which he called the most rigorous in the country. Despite his reform efforts, student scores on state STAAR exams have stayed flat or decreased during his time.

But he continually clashed with employees and several school board members over his management style. He survived several attempts by a few board members to fire him. Most recently, he quarreled with some school board members over his decision to fire three principals despite the board’s vote to keep them.

He always pledged that he would finish the job in DISD and not leave.

“I got my Texas driver’s license. I’m now a Texan. This is my state now. I bought a house. I plan to live in that house until I’m dead,” Miles said in 2012. “I like Dallas, I like the city, I’m part of Dallas.”

In August 2013, however, his wife and youngest son moved back to Colorado Springs, Colo.

Korby said in a text message that his resignation is effective on March 31, when he will retire.

When asked why he resigned, Korby said that “it’s time,” and he had planned his departure since early fall. He said that he will help with the transition until his retirement date.

Korby has been with DISD since 2008.

(Also checking to confirm the resignation of accounting services director Marian Hamlett – Update: DISD confirmed that Hamlett resigned and now works at Dallas Can!).

The resignation of Korby follows the departure of Alan King, who was chief financial officer and chief of staff. King’s resignation in October was unexpected but he has since been rehired as interim chief internal audit, reporting to the school board.

By now you know that Dallas ISD trustee Carla Ranger resigned from the board on Friday. She has represented District 6 in southwest Dallas since June 2006. It is unclear why Ranger resigned, but the move came a day after she lost four precincts to board president Lew Blackburn during the redistricting process, which concluded with the approval of a new map Thursday evening.

Trustees voted 8-1 for the new map, with Ranger abstaining. One of the precincts she lost is home to Wilmer-Hutchins High School and Wilmer-Hutchins Elementary School.

Trustees plan to have a special election in November to fill the seat.